[Slowhand] Melvin-to-Selvin

[Mel Boss]

With the commentary from Apurva Parikh, I couldn't agree less. 

Selvin is an ass. Apurva doesn't know that because he doesn't live in the Bay Area and hasn't had to endure his insufferable editorializing for the past 19-yrs. This is the same critic who ripped Eric's performance in 1988 at the Shoreline Pavilion, an excellent program available in stores on a single DVD (or an even better 2-disc boot that hasn't been compressed to fit on a single disc) - and every Clapton performance since then! 

I'm not missing Selvin's point; Apurva is missing Selvin's point, which is simply that he doesn't LIKE Clapton. Never has and never will. In trashing Clapton's performances (and others - he doesn't like Knopfler either), he is grandstanding. He fails as a journalist because he is biased. 

I thought that Clapton's tour performance at HP Pavilion was superb. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire setlist and all the new arrangements (with the possible exception of Key to the HW). All the band members performed exceptionally well. In a word, the program showed "balance." In my opinion, this was the best performance by a Clapton band since 1994/5 NBTB.

BTW, who was doing the cooking for Clapton in 1994? 
And who was in the kitchen for Clapton with the 4-piece band at RAH in 1990?

Eric's a humble man, and many people just don't get that!

Mel Boss
Danville, CA.

Apurva Parikh wrote:
1. Melvin To Selvin: Regarding Mels response to a SF Chronicle
review by Joel Selvin, I and many others think that Selvin is spot on. 
Selvin writes what Ive been saying all along. Its not a putdown of 
Clapton, but it is a criticism, and I think Mel misses Selvins point 
entirely. My opinion is that Clapton cooked full dinners, from scratch, way 
back in his Mayall/Cream/Blind Faith days, while today he merely pops TV 
dinners into the microwave, and lets others (Trucks) do the cooking. Today 
he also sets the table, which he didnt do back then, but every once in a 
while, he gives us a sandwich that hasnt been microwaved, and its 
pretty good.
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